AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AMONG HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT GRADUATES

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Hospitality and
Investigation of Events Management
Hospitality and Educational structure
Events Management
Education Professional courses,
Internship, Students’
attitude towards
internship
The impact of Hospitality
and Events Management
Education on the
Hospitality and Graduates’ Career
Events Management Development and the
Industry Proposed Enhancement
Model

Hospitality and Events

Management Graduates’
Career Development

Career goals of graduates

Graduates’ career choices

Closely associated with the major sectors of the tourism industry, hospitality and events management
continue to be economically important around the world and in the UK (Aggett and Busby 2011, p. 107).
In fact, the research study carried out by Ibrahim and Wason (2002) estimated that 10% of the global
workforce can be attributed to the tourism and related sectors. So the industry has become a force to
be reckoned with as the institutions are producing graduates who will be occupying positions in the
industry. However, there is a challenge in the industry as regards the relationship between the
graduates of the hospitality and events management and the industry in which they are relevant. Some
of the challenges are the avenue of bridging the skills the graduates have acquired from schools, the
career options that are opened to them and the understanding of the career path developments in both
tourism and related sectors—hospitality and events management (Ayres, 2006, p. 16). Barron and
Maxwell (1993, p. 9) asserted that about 70% of the hospitality and events management students in
their final year cannot foresee a long-term career in the industry. As the case may be, it should be
considered the factors that are responsible for the lack of foresight by the students. Basically, this will be
investigated from the angle of the hospitality and events management education and how it has
prepared the students of that discipline for a position in the industry or rather how it has affected the
decisions of the career choices they make after school.

Educators play a crucial role in the preparation of graduates for the challenges they face in the aspect of
managing their careers as well as the acquisition of skills and qualities that will be needed in the
industry. As the hospitality and events management industry has become more globally remarkable over
the past decades, it has increased the challenges faced by the educators (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 6).
From the hospitality industry perspectives, hiring and retaining competent employees is one of the
challenges they face (Lee and Chao 2013 p. 749). From the view of the students, (Robinson et al. 2008,
p. 10) recorded that identifying career paths challenges ranked the highest levels from the students
according to the report from their survey. Also, many students that enrol to study hospitality and events
management have a vague career potentials related to the industry in which they will be operating (Lu
and Adler, 2009 in Robinson et. al. 2015, p. 4). In other to fight the challenges facing the educators as
regards the provision of the right knowledge and technical skill for the students in the discipline so that
they can have the overview of the industry, how the industry operates and how they can fit into the
industry, from his study of other researchers (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 6) enumerated ways by which
institutions have linked the classroom-based theoretical concepts to the real life scenarios. One is the
structured programmes that provide opportunities for learning experience in the field right from the
institutions (Digance et al. 2001, p. 33). In addition, by inviting the hospitality and events managements
professionals to the classroom as guest lecturers have had some successful impacts in the learning
process of the students (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 6). He quoted Barron and Whitford (2004, p. 19) stating
that the specific management courses that employed the resources of the guest lecturers for at least
one-third of the class were well received by the students. This is because the guest lecturers were able
to provide real life examples and the students get to make contact for part-time job or future careers
(Robinson et al. 2008, p. 7). There are various forms of work experience and placements or internships
that are offered within the hospitality, event and tourism degrees (Busby 2005, p. 94). Educators also
facilitated these contacts between the students and the professionals in the industry and the invited
guest lecturers often make provisions for recruitment opportunities when selecting graduates for job
employment (Wills 2004, p. 14). The whole gap between knowledge acquired in the classroom and what
is required in the industry is quite illogical because industries cannot prepare students; it is the duty of
the institutions to prepare students for the necessary skills needed in the industry (William 2017, p.
165). Institution and industry are two separate entities, so it is more reasonable to discuss the gaps that
lie between the education being passed on to the students. Bridging these gaps necessitate drawing up
some programmes for the students and these programmes have been found gratifying for majority of
the students who undertake them (William 2017, p. 164).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES

One of the aims of the professional development courses provided by the institutions is to raise the
awareness of the course and the various personal development skills the students can acquire during
the programme. These skills vary from networking, planning and managing careers upon graduation and
how to shuttle around their careers throughout their working lives (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 9). He
further opined that the views of the students as regards their future careers in the hospitality and
events management industry were shaped and make more meaningful as they found the information
supplied by the guest lecturers more credible. According to their research, (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 9)
stated that when all the students who participated in the professional development courses were asked
about their satisfaction levels, it was discovered that the majority of the participants (about 79%)
showed a high level of satisfaction and the reasons were that they could now relate better with the
industry, understand the various career path opportunities they could tap into upon graduation, and
their roles in the industry were now clearer. It can be deduced from this that the professional
development courses taken by professionals in the industry presented a round view of career
opportunities for students and that it helped the students become more equipped as regards the career
path they are likely to take upon graduation.
This has countered the obscurity of the students and what they learn in the classrooms. The
nature of the class which was more conventional in the sense that they read textbooks, read journal
articles, prepare assignments, take examinations is now being replaced by somewhat much more
relatable process of learning for the students. Apparently, institutions of learning can enhance
graduates’ chance of securing a job when they offer more than just disciplinary knowledge and inculcate
their necessary skills and experience the students need to succeed in their career (Busby and Gibson
2010, p. 5).

INTERNSHIPS
The key to effective teaching of hospitality and events managements courses rather gravitates towards
hands-on or technical skills than the intellectual knowledge the students gather in the classroom (Jiang
and Schmad 2014, p. 14). Walker and Ferguson (in Aggett and Busby 2011 p. 108) conducted a study
based on the opinions of students in their final year and their placement year. They found out that early
applications for the placements would have provided the students with wider perspective of how they
see the industry, a higher range of career choices available in the industry as this would assist them early
enough to find their roles in the industry. Programmes that have included internship in their curriculum
tends to create a better link between the education the students acquire and what is obtained in the
industry (Aggett and Busby 2011, p. 107). He further argued that internships are indeed the most
important link the students can have with the industry. Tribe (2001) in Busby (2005 p. 94) saw internship
as the avenue for increasing the students’ ability to reflect critically on the tourism business. According
to Gerber (2001), internships provide opportunities for students to observe others who work within the
workplace environment. Students derive a lot of benefits from internship and it enhanced their
understanding of their life choices as they get to see the tangible link between theory and application
(Bullock et al., 2009). Harvey et al. (2009) cited how students benefit from internship: they get to work
in a setting where they are able to put theory into practice; they develop an awareness of how the
workplace culture runs; and they also develop various career strategies that are instrumental to their
career choices. Consequently, the ability to combine theories with real life projects and the willingness
of the professionals in the field to assist the students facilitate the access for some of the placement
students to view the work environment from the aspects of their senior colleagues and to have some
insight into the organizational strategy (Robinson et al. 2008, p. 10). This helps the placement students
know what works and what doesn’t within their area of specialization. However, this also has shaped
the attitude of students towards a career in the hospitality and events management field.

HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS INTERNSHIP

Busby and Fiedel (2001, p. 511) took an extensive study of 112 tourism degree programmes in the UK
and their findings revealed that 23% of the students who enrol in the programmes offer a one-year
internship while others only offer between 1 to 7 months. Throwing more light concerning the reasons
why some students reject the internship program, Aggett and Busby (2011, p. 108) quoted Ball et al.
(2006) that the result of the study conducted by the London Metropolitan University (2004) showed that
while some students were willing to pursue a placement, some others alluded to the following reasons
for not pursuing:
 the burden of finding a placement
 a lack of creating awareness by the departmental tutors
 they did not find the importance of gaining experience in the industry
 they lacked the drive and determination to pursue a placement

Another study conducted by Little and Harvey (2006) in Aggett and Busby (2011, p. 107) discussed the
various reasons why students take on a placement. Having interviewed 82 students from various
institutions, the findings are the following: some students took the placement in other to gain an insight
into the industry or the structure of work they will be doing, for some it was to see how the theories
they have learnt are applicable in the work environment, some others it was to supplement classroom
knowledge with practical experience while some students took placements because they believed that
placement experience makes the more marketable to their prospective employer. The students become
more employable because of the vocational emphasis placed on the tourism (as well as hospitality and
events management) industry (Innui et al. 2006, p.26).

According to the study by Robinson et al., (2015, p. 5), when the expectations of the students as regards
their career prospect are met during the internship period, the student participants become much more
positive and their positive outlook propels them to want to develop a career in the industry. In contrary,
some students still find it difficult to place themselves in a particular position in the field. About 26% of
the students within the Faculty of Management at the University of Central Lancashire disclosed that
they couldn’t find their role within the hospitality and events management industry (Walker and
Ferguson, 2009). This explains the reasons for the career choices made by some students. Aggett and
Busby (2011, p. 107) tackled some of the reasons the students give for not enrolling for internship and
suggested that there should be a wider range of awareness and the values that are attached to going for
internship as well as the opportunities embedded in the program. He further said that there should be
some forms of support mechanisms to aid the involvement of the students in the participation of
internship and engagement in the development of their career goals. While it seems that the inclusion
of internship in the curriculum of the hospitality and events management education has opened the
eyes of some students to the career strategies they can adopt for development, it serves as a point for
some other students to reflect upon their life and their involvement in the discipline and in relationship
to their career goals.

INDUSTRY
Barron and Maxwell (1993) studied the students studying for the hospitality and tourism degrees in
Scotland and pinpointed that the impressions of students working in the industry changed from totally
positive to totally negative because of the experience they gathered during the period of their industrial
training which is a core aspect of the curriculum. The pessimism that crept in after the industrial
experience of the students was identified to emanate from various experiences the student have during
their training; these vary from working for long unsociable hours, receiving low pay, low status of the
job, and high staff turnover that is prevalent in the industry (wood, 1993).

Although some students find their career paths in the hospitality and events management very
glamorous, the evidence of low pay and low status have blighted their optimism (Riley et al. 2002, p.
12). The research by the Scotland/George Street (2002) in Barron (2007, p. 1) corroborated the
aforementioned that, “while careers in the hospitality and related sectors were considered challenging
and interesting by the students, the students were also discouraged by the long working hours, low pay
and the fact that the job is somewhat repetitive.” Deery (2002) in Barron (2007, p. 2) pointed out that
the turnover culture that is prevalent in the UK and Australian hospitality and events management
industry is up to 300% per year. This alone is a fact that have caused some setbacks in the interest of
graduates in the industry, as job security and satisfaction is one of the criteria employees watch out for.
(McCabe, 2001) in his study of the hospitality industry asserted that the idea of job mobility, especially
as the graduates tend to adopt a strategy for rapid promotion by jumping from one job to another bred
the high rate of turnover in the industry.

Presently in the events industry, anyone can plan, design and manage an event, but to be a manager
requires more than that. The individuals need a complex and diverse set of skills and these skills will be
specific to the type of business environment in which the company or rather the individual will be
operating (Barron 2007, p. 1 ). Rogers (2014) opined that the events industry on its own is a robust and
diverse industry. He said that it requires suppliers whose activities cover a wide range of professions,
from staging and structures, to water management as well as waste recycling and there have to be an
abundance of other trades in between. While industry seems to be expanding in the events industry, the
hospitality industry held in a negative image by the students from the hospitality and tourism
managements. This negative image seems to be in proportion to the increasing students’ exposure to
the working life of the industry (Barron 2007, p. 1). Quoting Barron and Maxwell (1993), Barron (2007, p.
2) said that the supposed glamorous nature of the hospitality industry has been affected by inadequate
knowledge of the nature of the industry, poor relationship between employees and the organization,
poor working conditions of the industry (McMahon and Quin, 1995). Barron (2007, p. 5)carried out a
research that studied a group of students he called “focus groups”. These groups of students were asked
a series of questions that elicited various answers. What the students that make up the focus group
have in common was that they have had some form of experience working in the industry, although
some of them were on a part time basis. The questions that were put forward to them were their
perceptions of working life in the industry and the questions generated a mixture of positive and
negative comments. Out of the five focus groups, participants of 3 groups identified positive perceptions
which included the opportunity to work with like minded colleagues as well as the general public; the
social nature of the industry. In fact, some students mentioned that the career opportunities were great
and that it was possible to work anywhere in the world. They also mentioned that you could get
promoted quickly; “if you are good enough, you can land a good job upon graduation.” However, there
were negative comments from these participants. The major concern of the participant seemed to be
the low pay—“the pay is low compared to the effort you put into the job and also what is obtained in
some other industries if you put in equal amount of effort.” Moreover, the participants stated the
following: the anti-social hours of working, having to deal with customers who were drunk, belittlement
from the supervisory staff and the maltreatment by management. Barron (2007, p. 8) concluded that
there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction held by all members of all the focus groups. More so, there
is a particular focus group where all members pointed out that they would not be entering the industry
upon graduation. While 12 participants still showed enthusiasm for the industry, 8 were unsure if they
would continue to be involved in the industry.

Showing the discrepancy that exists between the desires of graduates from the hospitality management
and events management, it is obvious that although the two constitute the major sector of the tourism
industry as a whole, each of them kind of offer different perspectives for the graduates in the field.
Barron (2007, p, 7) stated that majority of the participants in the focus groups “considered a career to
be more than a job.” They could see a career as something they might want to do for the rest of their
life. He further argued that despite holding a degree from the hospitality management, most of the
participants no longer desired to working or forge a career in the industry.

CAREER GOALS OF THE GRADUATES OF HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT

Broadbridge (2003, p. 289) recently studied the relationship between students’ work experience and
their career choices in the hospitality industry and he revealed that the students’ experiences working in
the field have a great impact on their career choices when they graduate. According to William Barron
(2007, p. 6) who carried out a study based on focus groups, the expectations of the students who
participated in the focus groups showed that the students would prefer to use their degrees in
hospitality management to obtain a management level position. Morgan (2006) selected some students
and members of the staff and asked them a series of questions. He found out that although most of the
students recognized the essence and value of work experiences, there are some factors that influence
their decisions whether or not to undertake the job that offers such experience. The concerns are
diverse from financial and personal costs, the level of support from the members of the University, the
uncertainty as regards their career aspirations, to finding the right employer.

Stumpf and Tymon (2003, p. 17) defined a career as a sequence that are meaningful to the individual
which is able to add value to the organization in which the individual participates. As the hospitality and
events management draws graduates into various aspects of the industry, the career choices and
development of the hospitality and events management depends on a variety of reasons. According to
some of the career choice theories expounded upon by Ishara Saranapala, people choose their career
based on the following:
 What they love to do
 What they do well
 What the world needs
 What the world will pay for

He further gave the relationship among the above, stating that between what people love to do and
what they do well lies their “passion”; between what the world needs and what they love to do is
“vocation”; between what they do well and what the world will pay for is “career”; and between what
the world will pay for and what the world needs is “charity”. This is not only a general concept that
guide career choices but also a concept that can be applied to graduates of hospitality and events
management and their career development. While Robinson et al. (2008, p. 13)opined that the views of
the students as regards their future careers in the hospitality and events management industry were
shaped and make more meaningful as they found the information supplied by the guest lecturers more
credible, Barron and Maxwell (1993) showed that the impressions of students working in the industry
changed from totally positive to totally negative because of the experience they gathered during the
period of their industrial training which is a core aspect of the curriculum. Again, the aforementioned
still revolves around the education that is being passed unto the graduates of hospitality and events
management and it is apparent how these two forms of education—professional development courses
organized by schools and internship included as part of their rites of education—have impacted the
career choices the students are likely to make in the future and going by that, their career choices upon
graduation are most likely to define their career development. While the institutions offering hospitality
and events management education are making effort to bridge the gaps in the education being provided
for their students, the industry also seems to be impact their career development, mostly in the
negative term.
Apart from this, Walker and Ferguson (2009) corroborated as revealed above that 26% of the
students within the Faculty of Management at the University of Central couldn’t find their role within
the hospitality and events management industry. This could be the interception where the career theory
employed by Ishara Saranapala showed that passion also informs the career development of the
graduates. Some students naturally don’t have flair for the discipline; it could have happened that they
just found themselves there.
For the events industry, William (2017, p. 10) mentioned that the industry is projected to grow
even more over the coming years and there seems to be more confidence in the industry to hold on
based on past records, some employers in the events industry have decided to employ only from the
institutions that are in the top 20 Complete Universities Guide in the UK (CUG, 2014 in William 2017, p.
11). While Junek et al. (2007) in William (2017, p. 16) suggested that students in the events
management discipline believe that the degree will empower them with necessary skills to deliver their
roles and responsibilities in the industry and to obtain jobs, Nelson and Silver (2009) in William (2017, p.
56) revealed that the multidisciplinary of the events industry provided wide range of aspects of jobs
which the graduates can occupy but the problems lie in the inconsistency of terminologies that are
being used in the industry—as the terminologies change from time to time. This means that it is likely
that the tools the institutions are using to impact the students in the events management education go
obsolete too soon. Reasoning from this, institutions may need to always update themselves with the
development of technicalities and terminologies in the industry as this is obviously the only way they
can keep the skills of their graduates abreast of what is happening in the industry.
 Ladkin (2002, p. 379) related her study of the hotel management in the Australia to the UK,
stating that changes in career structure and individualism of the hotel’s manager are essential for
achieving general management positions and also that personal mobility of career in the hotel
management industry is essential for building of careers. This also explains another concept that shape
the career development of the graduates of the hospitality management. The individuals also mostly
consider the self-directed development in the field than the traditional structures of career
development.
As the hospitality management industry demands working for long unsociable hours even while
the pay at the end is low, coupled with the low status of the job and the instability of the workers as
they move from organization to organization in other to move faster ahead in the professions (wood,
1993), this also impact the directions which the graduates in the discipline follow upon graduation.
Recalling the career concept expounded by Ishara Saranapala, it becomes easy to see that some of the
graduates actually want to work in an industry where the pay is moderate or high; some desire high
status that comes with some particular jobs; and some graduates want to have a job that is highly
secured and where gradual growth in the industry is certain.

Perry et al. (1996, p. 86) opined that if you consider the importance of events across various levels, you
would discover that an appropriate education is needed in the events management in other for the
students to fit into the industry. She further argued that lack of proper, adequate and appropriate
education in the events management would lead to incompetency among graduates and that would be
very costly for the industry, if not disastrous. While the varieties of professions that intercept the events
management industry seemed to cause a lack of right education in that field, the hospitality
management seemed to be more direct in the aspect of professional development. However, the
downside of the education in the hospitality management is also apparent. More than before,
Institutions offering hospitality management needs to do more. William (2017, p. 39) related the
evidence that lecturers in the hospitality and events management don’t have enough confidence in the
institutions’ ability to develop and adopt new methods of teaching that would meet the needs of the
students that will equip them for the industry they are entering. On the other hand, as the institutions
are beginning to care more about the ability of the students to plan, organize and prioritize work or
grasp the technical knowhow of their job, some universities in the UK have come under the intense
pressure to provide their graduates with knowledge and skills more than what they offer only within
the academic sphere as related to the subject of their discipline and a class of degree (Mason et al.,
2009).

There seems to be a gap in the education being provided by the institutions in the UK as regards the
hospitality and events management discipline; and although these gaps have been identified, there is
another form of education the institutions need to consider. The institutions may need to tap into the
existing relationship between them and the industry and in that link provide even the industry with
some education. Events management education is currently being provided at 88 institutions in the UK,
so it is essential to further bridge the career path of the graduates in the industry as this will help
reconcile the graduates’ dreams or career prospects with what the industry also needs—the ability to
articulate their career options with the various aspects and levels of positions in industry; channelling
proper understanding of their career path developments in the hospitality, events and related sectors.
(Ayres 2006, p. 17).